Kon Tiki

It was good for a change, having no humans around. Humans conversed far too much, too much emotions and such menial things, Kulos was glad in a way to be rid of them all even for such a brief time.

They had just entered dwarf territory, and they had yet to encounter an ambush of any sorts, or any life of the sort. This world was truly strange, there was no in between . Every place they had found was either of great beauty or of pure chaos, and this was chaos.

Not as grave as the outlands, it was devoid of any vegetation. Pure hard soil covered with cracks and wear, no volcanoes or steam but there mise well have been for the temperature was at an extremely high level.

The orcs were accustomed to any climate but even they had difficulty breathing, sounding almost as animal like as all the stories portrayed them to be, sounding like a pack of savage dogs marching forward to fight another pack of dogs.

Kulos laughed at this, wondering why it was always the orcs that were compared to animals like dogs. Humans were just as vile as orcs, all disgusting pigs bent on sexual exploits, feuds and blood thirsting. The cursed, they hated which was far worse than animals, at least animals only killed out of survival, humans killed for pleasure with the pretense of fighting for survival.

And even elves were no better, no race was better than the other when he came down to it, they all had the same nature deep down inside, they all had a hateful nature. As for Ares, he would not trust him for he knew that walking straight into an ambush was the worse thing one could do, Ares might say it was the best thing but he was not the most honest person to walk the earth.

As a matter of fact Ares was more like the definition of deception, rather than sending the entire army ahead he’d sent a scout ahead, an orc never made a good scout because they made far too much noise, even Kulos himself found his breathing far too heavy even when controlled.

That only left one option, running ahead of the group as silent as a grave Cyranos surveyed the area, being as old as Ares he knew the layout of the world quite well, he’d most likely been in the dwarf city in his days as a prince.

They thought they were hidden, and to an orc scout they would have been, however Cyranos spotted the ambush party just as Ares had predicted. Of course Ares would know, he’d advised that they place it there for security reasons. However, it was not a dwarf trap but a Coronian trap. The dwarves had once been Coronian, but after the second age when the Dictatorship was finally taken down and replaced by King Ralph.

They had not deemed the Coronian Empire worthy enough to have such power, and to be quite honest the Emperor had never wanted those lands, he liked to fight for his lands rather than having them handed to him.

However, some dwarves had remained loyal to the Coronian Empire faction, a monarchy was no better than a dictatorship. After it was all settled and relative peace was settled Ares, Cyranos brought the few loyal dwarves and the traps were set, and ever since they’d been living in a secret establishment, training for when they would be needed.

The trap was very clever indeed, it did not even require a trip wire or a spell caster, as soon as a large enough force found themselves within the perimeters of the trap it would go up, Cyranos had never witnessed the trap itself but knew it must be a doozey if Ares was involved.

Either he went along with Ares’ plan which was now clear in his head, he was with the Coronians once again, that he was certain of. But he had not meant harm to them by telling them to get capture in the ambush, he’d wanted to make a fair fight because being in phase three he was probably craving violence very badly.

Running back to join the group a low rusty voice whispered, " Cyranos, is that you? Prince Cyranos?" Cyranos stopped in mid step, turning around quickly he could not see who was talking but recognized the voice immediately, most dwarves sounded the same to most people but Cyranos could distinguish every voice no matter how similar they were.

Grinning largely he replied, " Prince Cyranos at Gomlin’s service, my associates and myself are coming to talk with Gomlin, we need Gomlin to join us and fulfill the prophecy, and we need Gomlin’s King to gather a dwarf army for a battle like no other, and I mean the dwarf King, Gomlin do pretend to be in his service doesn’t he?"

Gomlin walked out, short even in dwarf standards he was more like a stubby hobbit with a bushy beard and muscles. Dwarf half his size over his shoulder he came and faced Cyranos, " How did Gomlin know it was me, I am not the noble elf prince I was once, they took me and lowered me to a house pet, pampered, but a pet nonetheless."

He erupted in laughter, dwarves always had such a jovial nature to them. Always sounded like they were drunk, " Its all about your eyes and your arrogance, even as a cat your emanate an aura of overconfidence, us hybrids are sensitive with auras. And your eyes, as feline as they are, they have a Royal aspect to them, so you want me to come with you?"

Cyranos tilted his head slightly, having no shoulders to shrug, " Yes, it would be best if Gomlin came of his own free will. If Gomlin wants to fulfill his oath to Ares he would be wise to do so as well, Ares has manipulated all this affair right where he wants it as usual."

" He had it all, everyone thinks they made their plans but Ares knew exactly which buttons to push, he’s found a way to use the prophecy against the so called good guys, so will Gomlin come with me." Gomlin grinned at this, he’d been waiting for a moment like this ever since Ares had promised he would return.

Not waiting for a response he turned around and began walking back to the group, Gomlin ran to catch up with the swift cat, chain mail clanging against armour. It was about time something was done, a cunning fox Ares was, it was no wonder he had been the Emperor’s most trusted servant.

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The orcs began to be unsettled at the long wait, some began to murmur that Cyranos had betrayed them, that there was no trap to begin with and he was setting it. No one trusted that gibbering cat. Where some talked conspiracy others talked mutiny, Kulos was leading them to a known trap to gain the alliance of a bunch of stubby dwarves.

No one knew how this seed had doubt had been planted, it had simply began to form and had slowly spread across the army, staying quiet enough to stay out of Kulos’ hearing. So when Cyranos finally returned with a dwarf following him they were all ready to jump on them and kill them.

Kulos who still held power even over the potential mutineers motioned for them to stay still, " Gomlin, I see Cyranos managed to find you. Is there a way you can lead us to your people without the inconvenience of an ambush? We do not have Adonis with us anyway."

Compared to Kulos the dwarf blacksmith was nothing but a foot stool, he looked up and replied, " There was an ambush indeed, but I suppose I can tell the guards you are not a threat, you are hear to seek audience with the King are you not?"

He knew the answer and turned around, leading them through the safe passage that led directly to the King’s underground city, if they had kept on going straight they would have indeed hit an ambush and would most likely have died in the process, they owed their lives to the Coronian Empire once again.

The path to the underground city was a tricky one, anyone without a guide would never have found it. They soon approached a small miniature canyon, which was more like an intricate maze that led to dead ends and death, other than one path that was only taught to the inhabitants of the city.

Gomlin was fortunate to be one of them, it was a slow trek however considering he was escorting a whole army of orcs behind him, unseen dwarves walked by glaring as he waved at them jovially, as of late he had been one of the only ones still to have a happy attitude regarding life.

The thing about the maze that got people lost was its deceptive complexity, it seemed so complex with all these straying paths but it was really as simple as could be. If one walked straight the entire time, never minding walking the maze but just climb over the damn walls, it was just a miniature canyon after all.

Even to a dwarf as short as Gomlin he could easily pull himself over the wall and to the other side. It took half an hour for the entire army to cross the maze, at the end they found themselves at the entrance of a large cave entrance. Turning to Kulos he said, " Your army must wait back here, you and Cyranos only."

Giving orders to his soldiers they all turned and walked into the dark moist cave. The echoing sound of water dripping on the rocky ground was almost like a heartbeat, the cave felt so alive it was hard to believe they were not entering the mouth of a giant beast ready to devour them.

Their heavy footsteps acted as a second heartbeat to the beast, the rock walls had an organic pattern to them, different colours of red and brown wrinkled with gold and diamond and numerous precious minerals. The wind blowing inside the cave acted as the breathing for the beast, coming at a regular rhythm as though it was breathing slowly.

Gomlin seemed completely oblivious to all these sounds, although they did not notice they were gradually going deeper and deeper in the ground, the tunnel angling down ever so subtly that it would take a keen observer to notice, but the other two were too distracted by the noises, if they only knew the real source of the noises.

Having gone over a two leagues under ground they finally reached the large stone gates of the underground city. They were unlike most gates, it was as though they were but an extension from the wall itself, no ornate designs. Simply one large slab of stone with no apparent ways of opening, no crack in the middle or opening mechanisms.

Jutting his hands forward Gomlin lifted the door up, making it reintegrate with the wall once again. Exposing a very luminous city, lanterns lit everywhere dwarves were working hard, chipping at the walls with their pic axes. A railway had been constructed, throughout the city wagons of ore were transported to the refinery which was like a volcano, an eternal fire made it shine a bright red.

The city had not been constructed, it had been carved from the outside in. It must have taken a long time, they were not even done. No one noticed their entry, every dwarf worked hard either cutting more of the city or working in the refinery turning the ore into steel which was then turned into weaponry and armour by the blacksmiths.

Gomling walked through the crowds of dwarves with ease, following the path that would lead to the King, within the walls were many minerals of incredible beauty, pure and untouched. They stopped, finally at the King’s courthouse.

A large tower had been carved from the wall, walking inside they went to the tope floor where King Horusian sat, like all else the throne was made of stone like the walls and the tower itself. Gomlin bowed as did Kulos, Cyranos attempted a bow but cats were not so good at bowing.

The King got to his feet, " Gomlin, why have you come without a formal invitation? If this is not an emergency you will be severely punished for this, there is a reason we have a disciplinary code set, so that all will run smoothly."

Gomlin looked nervous, hoping the King would see the importance in the matter, " Yes it is important, they have summoned me for the prophecy, but they will need your army if the world is to be saved, is the survival of the world emergency enough for you?" He regretted the last snide remark but knew the King would understand.

Sitting back down the King looked them over, " The survival of the world you say? That is very interesting, I was not aware the world was in danger in the first place. Everything has been quiet, well noisy as all the work progresses, but no sign of danger has reached my ear."

Cyranos knew dwarves were stupid but this King was the stupidest of them all, " Maybe if Horusian had his head out of his arse he would have heard of the great war that will be taking place, a war for the survival of the world between two large armies." The dwarf surprisingly did not seem angered at the verbal insult.

They went silent for a moment and the dwarf King replied, " Of course I know, I know more than you know. I was waiting for you although I did not expect you to come so early, the fate of the world hinges on this so we will send our entire army, that makes it two hundred thousand dwarves."

" And to reach the island I have already devised a plan, knowing that would be a problem we would have to face sooner or later I faced it before it even became a problem. To carry such a large force we would ordinarily need thousands of boats, but for centuries now we have been building a mega ship."

This was curious, not even Cyranos had heard the term, or Gomlin judging by their facial expressions. Turning to face the wall behind him he opened the wall, it swirled open exposing a giant spheric chamber.

Inside this chamber was a giant boat made of stone, dwarf wizards were casting spells over the boat making it capable of floating over water, it extended over fifty leagues wide and two hundred leagues long. They stood in awe at the sight of it, on the right of the large chamber was an opening that led right to the surface, on a vast beach.

The work was nearly completed, there was no sails but the interior of the boat had been carved to contain the entire army if necessary. As they boarded the ship they looked in the back of the ship where the bridge was located, a large wheel had been made that controlled the large fins at the back of the ship.

Walking down the stairs to the lower deck the found themselves in a long hall with two long benches. On the bottom of both sides were a hundred thousand holes where the oars would come out of, even if the wind was bad the dwarves who were physically trained from all the hard work on the city would have the endurance to get to the island swiftly.

Kulos smiled at this, it seemed strange for an orc to smile but he could not help himself, this was the best thing that could happen to them. They had Gomlin, a large army, there was only one thing left to ask, " Will there be room for my orc army on this boat?"

The King said, " Aye, that’s why I built the bow of the ship so large, your army can stand guard as archers and make sure we do not get attacked, although I doubt we will meet any danger." Turning to a wall he opened a slot and yelled in it, his voice echoing throughout the entire army, " We are going to war, arm yourselves and meet at the Kon-Tiki"

The dwarves quickly dropped their tools as though they’d practised this procedure many times. Sliding open the hidden doors in the wall where two hundred thousand war axes, shields, lances and armour sets. Everything was made on large scale, almost as though they’d been working their entire lives for this one moment, for this monumental war.

They were quickly armed and ran to the mega ship, running up the loading ramp and down to the bottom deck, each sitting at an oar. The orcs readied themselves, entering the city they grabbed their bows and arrows and ran onto the ship.

Everyone in place the dwarf wizards began to use the full force of their magic and levitated off the ground, landing in the ocean with a large splash the oar master began to hit the drums in a pattern like that of the water dripping in the cave. The dwarves began to move row, the ship moving at an incredible speed as they headed to the south side of Macknola.